A Bumpy, but Wonderful Ride
by Kaleighaspiringauthor
Summary: High school AU. All ships, brotps. Lots of Cresswell because they're my number one ship. My first story. Kaider and Kiko as couples. I am not going to spoil anything else. Rated T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

When Cress woke up that Monday she assumed this school be like all the others. Everyone would see her as the geeky tech prodigy just like everyone else. Boy was she mistaken. This year she was in for bumpy, but wonderful, ride.

She walked into the school with that nervousness she got every time. Her hip length hair was in an intricate braid she'd learned how to do on YouTube. The simple dress she wore was comfortable and she hoped she wouldn't be noticed.

"Now, where's the principal's office?" she asked herself. She walked into the office, and that's when she saw him. The most handsome boy she had ever seen in her entire life time. She didn't mean high school boy handsome. He was movie star handsome.

She didn't realize she was staring until he looked up at her. Then he gave her a grin. A cocky, annoyingly gorgeous, heart melting, swoon worthy grin. He clearly knew that his smile was all those things. Then she blushed. Cress felt it growing across her nose and cheeks. With that blush his grin magically got more cocky. That was when the principal came out yelling.

"Carswell Thorne, I swear if you get called into this office ONE more time you will be EXPELLED!"

" Please shorten that Carswell Thorne to just Thorne, Principal Carter. Everyone else does." So his name is Thorne, Cress thought. That was when Principal Carter noticed her standing there.

"Why are you just standing there?" She knew she had given him a dumbstruck face.

"Uh, um. I'm new, sir." Well done Cress you just made yourself look incredibly stupid in front of the most handsome being to ever exist, she thought . "My name's Crescent Darnell." she added quickly.

"Ah, I am so sorry you were welcomed to our school in such a manner miss Darnell." Principal Carter said in an overly happy voice, clearly trying to compensate for the fact she had just seen him yelling at Thorne. "Carswell please get to your scheduled class, remember what I said a moment ago." At that Thorne gave him a sarcastic salute. Her eyes followed him, somewhat involuntarily. That was when he threw her a wink as he turned to close the door behind him. She blushed, again somewhat involuntarily.

"Miss Darnell shall we get you a tour. I will personally escort you to your first class." continued Principal Carter. Thank goodness he hadn't noticed her blush.

"There's no need for a tour or for you to show me to my first class. My dad and I took a tour of the school before he enrolled me. He has very high standards. I was told when I enrolled I would need to check in on my first day."she said.

"Is that right miss Darnell?" Principal Carter questioned.

"That is correct Principal Carter."Cress answered.

"Well then head to your first class, after I get you a note to be exempt from punishment for your tardiness." He handed her a note to give her teacher and she was off. She was headed to room number 215. It was upstairs and so was her locker. That was a bonus. She could live with these conditions. That was when she saw she had a full locker. YES! she thought. She'd had a half lockers at her other schools. Top lockers at that. When you're quite petite like Cress it poses quite a few problems. Let's not get into that right now.

She was feeling good, ready to go. Then she walked into her math class and saw Thorne. Really universe she thought. So she figured he was a junior, she was a sophomore but had been bumped up a year in math. The teacher looked over at her and said "Who are you and why are you late?"

"Crescent Darnell, and I have a note from the principal explaining my tardiness."

"Alright give me the note and have a seat next to ….."


	2. Chapter 2

It was the girl from the office Thorne thought as she walked in. Then another thought struck him, she was junior. In all honesty he would've pegged her for a freshman. She was walking toward him and she looked nervous. Hadn't said something about was she going to sit with him? No, what he loved about his seat was that nobody sat with him. Well, she was definitely going to sit with him.

"Hi, I'm Cress."she said.

"Nice to meet you."Thorne replied putting on his best smile, then he added "So you're a junior?"

"Actually no I'm not a junior."

"If you aren't a junior then why are you in this class?" That had sounded ruder than he intended.

"Well, it's kind of a long story." She seemed uncomfortable having his attention. Most girls loved having the attention of the famed Carswell Thorne. This girl, this Cress, didn't seem to like it very much, although she was a blushing.

"Do, tell."he tried to sound as flirty as possible.

"Well I'm a sophomore but I'm really good at math and reading. So I was bumped up one year in math and two years in english. My reading level is high enough to take college and classes in ELA, but I chose to do twelfth grade ELA instead." Cress said so many words in so little time, yet her words weren't slurred.

"Wow, way to lower all of us average people's self esteem." Thorne's best friend Cinder said.

"Um...sorry?"

"She was just kidding."Thorne said in reply to cresses kind of apology.

"Well nice to meet you, She who was just kidding." So this girl really did have a sense of humor. Wait a minute was he BLUSHING! This was impossible Carswell Thorne NEVER blushed.

"Awww he's blushing" Cinder sarcastically swooned. "I'm Cinder by the way."she said to Cress.

"Class dismissed." said.

"This may be kind of an odd question but, what was that teacher's name?" Cress asked when they entered the hallway.

"Oh that's " Cinder replied. Thank goodness Cinder answered, Thorne thought. He had a weird feeling in his stomach. He didn't recognise this feeling and he wasn't sure if he hated it or loved it.

"What's your next class Cress?" Cinder asked.

"Math. What's yours?"

"I have mechanics. Thorne has math next to. Don't you Thorne?"

"Yeah with ." He said to both of them.

"Oh, I have her for math too."

"Thorne you should show Cress how to get to math." Cinder told him making a mischievous face directly at him so that Cress couldn't see.

"Do you want to walk together Cress?" He didn't realise how rude he had sounded until Cress looked at him slightly hurt.

"If you didn't want to walk with me you could've just said so." Cress replied as she walked off. He was surprised at how guilty he felt on the way to math class. He really hadn't meant to sound so agitated. Thorne prided himself on being able to control his emotions, especially when it came to the female population. Oh well, he thought, it's not like it mattered to him what Cress thought. She was just the new girl. Besides almost all the other girls in this school fawned over him. He didn't need Cress, she was just another girl.

 **A/N: So much thanks goes to FanfictioningFangirl for giving me my first review ever. She also helped me get this chapter out. Review and tell me what you all think.**

 **~Kaleighaspiringauthor~**


	3. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Why had Thorne been so rude to Cress, she seemed super sweet, Cinder thought on her way to mechanics class. It was her favorite class of the day, not only because of the class but because she would get to see her boyfriend Kai. He was pretty horrible at the hands-on part of mechanics but really understood the math part. The math piece of mechanic was his strength and the hons-on piece was Cinder's. They balanced each other out perfectly and not just in mechanics.

"Hey," Cinder's thoughts were interrupted by the very person they had been of.

"Oh hey Kai," She replied. "How has your day been so far?"

"Pretty good, you?" She loved it when he was concerned for her.

"It's actually been good. There's this new girl. She is in my homeroom and has math with Thorne. But here's the thing she's a sophomore and is taking eleventh and twelfth grade classes. Isn't that awesome." Cinder rattled off quickly.

"Whoa, Cinder slow down." Kai said, "That is super cool though. What is her name?"

"Oh her name's Cress and she's super nice. Thorne was kind of being mean to her after homeroom though,"

"Of course he was." Kai interrupted rolling his eyes. "Cinder sometimes I seriously wonder why you're friends with that guy. He gets into trouble all the time. Cinder," Kai stared into her eyes showing his worry, as they sat down at their workbench. "He could get you into trouble if he doesn't stop. You know that don't you?"

"Yeah Kai I know that but.." She was cut off by their teacher.

"Hello everyone today I will be introducing your new project to you. We are going to be restoring old or beat up cars." Said their teacher, Ren. Her real name was Rennae Finch, but all her students called her Ren from the get go. Except Kai who insisted on being proper for the first week but eventually gave in.

"We can talk about this later," grumbled Cinder.

Ren was telling them about how they would need to join groups together in order to make the job easier for everyone involved. "How about Cinder and Kai pick their group first. Pick two other duos to join you. There will be six of you total in a group, we have three cars to restore. There are eighteen of you, perfect." They all loved Ren but she could go off topic all the time. "Alright you two go ahead and pick."

Cinder spoke first, "We'll take…"

 **A/N** Yet another cliff hanger. (laughs evilly) Sorry it took so long to get this out. School hasn't made it easy. This is why I don't have a set update schedule. So I was just listening to _You And Me_ by Lifehouse and it made me think of Cresswell. I know that was totally random but I thought I would share. If you haven't heard the song you should look it up.

~Kaleighaspiringauthor~


	4. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

".. Winter and Jacin." Jacin heard Cinder say. He was definitely ok with that. Cinder was Winter's cousin whom she adored, and he just so happened to adore Winter so this could definitely work.

"Oh, yay!" Winter said, "C'mon Jacin let's go over here and stand with Cinder and Kai. Aren't you excited to work with them?" He loved her enthusiasm.

"Yeah I am, not nearly as excited as you though." He replied with a smile.

"I'm not sure it's even possible to be as excited as Winter." Cinder said laughing.

"I'm going to take that as a compliment and say that I am flattered." Winter replied giggling. Jacin thought that her laugh was adorable, then again he thought virtually everything about Winter was adorable.

"It was entirely meant as a compliment cous." Cinder said winking.

"Winter, Jacin you two pick the next duo to join your group." Ren said.

"How about Liam and Iko." Jacin said and Winter nodded enthusiastically. They slowly realized that they had been called and stopped flirting just long enough to walk over to the rest of the group, holding hands nonetheless.

"This could be you." Liam whispered to Jacin gesturing to his hand intertwined with Iko's. Jacin rolled his eyes and moved on. He was going to make a move on Winter just not right now.

"Alright," Ren said "I'll group the rest of you." While Ren grouped everyone else they all talked about random things until…

"Kai! I am not going to stop being friends with him just because you want me to!" Cinder yelled.

"Cinder it isn't that I don't want you two be friends it's it's…." Kai was clearly not happy everyone was seeing their argument.

"Do you feel threatened by him, is that it?" Cinder was clearly very upset. Everyone in their group knew who they were talking about: Thorne.

"No! Of course not," Kai said defensively, "I don't want you to get in trouble because of him. He makes stupid spar of the moment decisions, which usually get him in trouble. I don't want that for you, I want you to have the best life imaginable. You deserve the best and getting drug down with him, or by him, isn't what you deserve. You deserve so much more than that, so much better." Kai and Cinder were both crying by now. Cinder suddenly wrapped her arms around Kai's neck and kissed him. He tensed at first but slowly gave in and pulled her closer.

As she pulled away Cinder whispered, " I love you."

"I love you too" Kai said kissing her cheek.

"Now that we've witnessed that beautiful moment," Ren interrupted, "class is dismissed."

 **A/N:** Hi so... I know that I kind of disappeared. I have been really busy with school and I've had visiting family. Pleas enjoy the new chapter. Also quick question: Would you guys like a holiday gathering series with Lunar Chronicle characters. Starting with Christmas then New Years, then Easter, 4th of July, etc.? If so please leave a review and tell me. One more thing are any of you interested in me writing fan fictions with the Selection Series or The Outsiders? Leave a review telling me.

~Kaleighaspiringauthor~


	5. the real chapter five

Chapter Five

Thorne stopped by his locker to deposit his textbooks before lunch. He wondered if Cress would sit with him, and his friends, obviously. When he reached the table where the Rampion crew typically ate he saw that Kai, Cinder, Liam, Iko, Winter, and Jacin were already there.

"Hey guys," he said as he took his seat. "Cinder I need you to take a look at the Rampion after school."

"Thorne maybe it's time to get rid of that old car. I mean it breaks down every other week." Cinder said.

"I expected more from you, Cinder" Thorne said, pretending to be offended "You know what it means to me." Cinder simply rolled her eyes as Scarlet and Wolf approached the table. Cress popped out from behind them. Thorne found himself having to look away. He was embarrassed at how he had treated her prior to math class.

During their shared math class she had to introduce herself. He could tell she didn't like attention. He wanted to save her, why?, that was a mystery even to him.

"Hey Cress," Cinder said " Do you want to sit with us?"

"Uh sure, that sounds really nice." Cress said nervously.

"So you met Scarlet and Wolf?" Cinder asked

"Yeah we met." Scarlet said taking two tomato sandwiches out of her lunch box. She handed the larger one to Wolf who took it eagerly.

"I was at my locker and I dropped my math book. Scarlet picked it up and Wolf was with her." Cress said nervously taking the seat next to him. She seemed hesitant to sit next to him.

Through the entirety of math class he had glanced at Cress awkwardly. He had been feeling guilty the entire time she seemed to be avoiding eye contact with him, not unlike she was doing currently.

She had packed her lunch. Thorne watched as she pulled out a salad and a small bottle of dressing. He didn't feel like eating today so he just sat there with a water he'd bought. She pulled a bottle of orange juice.

"Eating healthy today, I see." Thorne said. Cress looked into his eyes blushing. She looked away for just a second then met his gaze again.

"I try to eat healthy as often as dad is a doctor so, he's all about disease and health education." she said.

"Oh awesome," said Kai "what kind of doctor is he?" Thorne didn't know why, but he was kind of uncomfortable with Kai asking Cress questions. He tried to tell himself it was because Kai was dating his best friend and didn't want him to talk to other girls. However he knew that wasn't the truth. He didn't know what the truth was but that wasn't it.

"Oh, uh. He studies disease treatment and prevention. That's part of why we move so much." She answered.

"How so?" Thorne asked. Oh great he thought, now I'll sound nosy. So he added "If you want to share that is."

"Don't worry it's no problem" she said sincerely, "he goes wherever there's a lab he feels could benefit from his work. He applies and then sees who is willing to allow him to work then decides. He once went to South Africa to study specific strains of a disease that was native there." Cress said. That sounded difficult, to move around all the time. That guilt Thorne had been feeling spiked up again. He had been rude to her on the first day she was here.

"Did he take you to South Africa with him?" Cinder enquired.

"No, I was in boarding school here in the U.S. for a year while he was there." She answered.

"What about your mother?" Thorne asked then instantly regretted it. She looked down at her now dressed and partially eaten salad. There was look of painful sadness on her face.

"She passed away when I was seven." Cress said never looking up from her salad.

"I'm so sorry Cress," Winter said "my mother passed away in childbirth. I live with just my dad too."

"My Grandma raised me." Scarlet said.

"My mother passed away a few years ago." Kai said.

"My dad moved on about five or six years ago." Wolf said with a small sadness in his voice. Scarlet grabbed his hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

"I never knew who my father was, my mother died when I was a baby. I was adopted by Garan Lihn and his wife." Cinder said calmly. "She never liked me much. Then Garan passed away and she treated me even worse. But that's part of what's shaped me into who I am so It's okay." She smiled as she finished.

"Same goes for the rest of us." Wolf said.

"You guys are right." Cress said and that was when the bell rang lunch was over.

The rest of the day went pretty quietly. Cress had enjoyed E.L.A which she had with Scarlet and Wolf. Her last class was Show Choir. It might just be her new favorite class it was super fun. It was really laid back and the teacher was awesome. Her name was Kaleigh Author. But everyone called her Kaleigh. Iko was also in Show Choir they had been formally introduced while leaving lunch. Cress admired how daring Iko's blue braids were. Cress' thoughts were suddenly brought back to the present reality.

She had bumped into Thorne. He looked down at her. "Hey Cress. I was just going to look for you, so I could apologize for earlier. I hadn't meant to sound so rude. So yeah, sorry bye."He then ran off toward the parking lot. Cress stood there dazed for a moment. He'd said so much at once it took her a moment to process it all. Once she processed his apology she began her walk home.

 **AN: Hey guys! Sorry this took so long to get out to all of you. I just haven't had as much time to write lately, but thanks to winter weather I finished it. I know what you're thinking; "Did she really make the show choir teacher a version of herself?" Well, sort of I did. She is a character inspired by me and we share a first name. Please don't throw the book at me. Kaleigh Author isn't a real person, although she is inspired by one: me. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought. Also I would love for you guys to leave me requests for a Lunar Chronicles one shot.**

 **~Kaleighaspiringauthor~**


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